# Your own Movie Theories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766 "2011-06-17T00:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/41 "2011-06-17T18:53:11Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Nice, but they’d need to cut out the scene with the guy in the hospital and the police artist, and subsequent fax of Verbal’s face for that to work. Not to mention all the questions the cops ask Verbal and the pressure they put on him… I thought of that. Verbal had been harassing that burn victim in the hospital while he was trying to steal drugs. Since nobody quite understood the patient’s highly-dialected Hungarian, they thought he was babbling about Kaiser Soze. He was really trying to say, “this crippled grifter who was trying to steal my morphine.” Admittedly, this is a stretch! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/42 "2011-06-17T18:54:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_ was all Cameron’s fantasy. Cameron was an outsider at school who also had a bad home life. So he imagined what it would be like if he hung out with the cool kids like Ferris and Sloan. Actually, it is the fantasy of Jim McAllister from _Election_, who wishes he’d been a Ferris-like student, hence gis motivation to slickly (in his mind) manipulate the election against uncool overachiever Tracy Flick. > [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > The Ark of the Covenant’s power was hidden in Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase. This doesn’t seem likely. Tim Roth’s character, who is clearly not humble, looks directly into the briefcase and doesn’t melt or explode. My personal theory about _Casablanca_, in which the whole plot element of the letters of transit makes little sense and ends up being pointless (as Major Strasser makes it clear that Victor Lazlo is not leaving Casablanca alive regardless of what travel documents he has) is that the entire story is a ruse by the seemingly guileless but actually ruthlessly manipulative Ilsa. Having already made a connection with the resourceful but emotionally infantile Rick, she sets him up in classic long con fashion by suddenly disappearing with only a vague notification, knowing that he would flee Paris to Casablanca or some other likely thoroughfare for refugees and expatriates, and then follows him there with her meal ticket husband in tow, first making him feel resentful but knowing that his essentially good nature and desire to be seen as the rescuer would cause him to fall on his own sword to provide her and Lazlo with the means to get to America. Evidence in support? There was never any chance that Rick (who fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War and ran guns to Ethiopia against the Italians) was going to sacrifice Lazlo to the Germans. Ilsa seems absolutely too spacey to be real, and the all-too-coincidental theft of the letters of transit, supposed off-screen death of Ugarte (leaving the letters in Rick’s possession to do with what he will), and the arrival of Lazlo and Ilsa at the Café American are too perfect storm of events to be believed. Colonel Strasser seems suspiciously lacking in entourage of junior staff officers for an OF-5 on a mission to collect an escapee from a German war camp. It also makes little sense for Lazlo to be going to America to help support the Czech resistance when the \*Úst ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/43 "2011-06-17T18:55:22Z")
(SPOILERS GALORE WARNING) \*\*“You’ve got mail” \*\*has a sad ending. Meg has chosen the fictional fantasy Tom over real Tom, therefore cementing in his mind that their relationship is not destined to succeed. Even when Meg is all “I hoped it would be you”, she knows that she just screwed up and his smile is mor sad than anything. Speaking of Tom Hanks. In **“Angels and Demons”** Ewan MacGregor was actually working with the help of some sort of supernatural entity, maybe even God itself: his whole plan depended on everything going the right way up to a second. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/44 "2011-06-17T18:56:16Z")
[quote=“Stranger\_On\_A\_Train, post:42, topic:585766”] Actually, it is the fantasy of Jim McAllister from _Election_, who wishes he’d been a Ferris-like student, hence gis motivation to slickly (in his mind) manipulate the election against uncool overachiever Tracy Flick. This doesn’t seem likely. Tim Roth’s character, who is clearly not humble, looks directly into the briefcase and doesn’t melt or explode. My personal theory about _Casablanca_, in which the whole plot element of the letters of transit makes little sense and ends up being pointless (as Major Strasser makes it clear that Victor Lazlo is not leaving Casablanca alive regardless of what travel documents he has) is that the entire story is a ruse by the seemingly guileless but actually ruthlessly manipulative Ilsa. Having already made a connection with the resourceful but emotionally infantile Rick, she sets him up in classic long con fashion by suddenly disappearing with only a vague notification, knowing that he would flee Paris to Casablanca or some other likely thoroughfare for refugees and expatriates, and then follows him there with her meal ticket husband in tow, first making him feel resentful but knowing that his essentially good nature and desire to be seen as the rescuer would cause him to fall on his own sword to provide her and Lazlo with the means to get to America. Evidence in support? There was never any chance that Rick (who fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War and ran guns to Ethiopia against the Italians) was going to sacrifice Lazlo to the Germans. Ilsa seems absolutely too spacey to be real, and the all-too-coincidental theft of the letters of transit, supposed off-screen death of Ugarte (leaving the letters in Rick’s possession to do with what he will), and the arrival of Lazlo and Ilsa at the Café American are too perfect storm of events to be believed. Colonel Strasser seems suspiciously lacking in entourage of junior staff officers for an OF-5 on a mission to collect an escapee from a German war camp. It also makes little sense for Lazlo to be going to America to help support the Czech resistance when the \*Úst ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/45 "2011-06-17T18:57:16Z")
Evidence in support? There was never any chance that Rick (who fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War and ran guns to Ethiopia against the Italians) was going to sacrifice Lazlo to the Germans. Ilsa seems absolutely too spacey to be real, and the all-too-coincidental theft of the letters of transit, supposed off-screen death of Ugarte (leaving the letters in Rick’s possession to do with what he will), and the arrival of Lazlo and Ilsa at the Café American are too perfect storm of events to be believed. Colonel Strasser seems suspiciously lacking in entourage of junior staff officers for an OF-5 on a mission to collect an escapee from a German war camp. It also makes little sense for Lazlo to be going to America to help support the Czech resistance when the \*Úst ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/46 "2011-06-17T18:58:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_ was all Cameron’s fantasy. Cameron was an outsider at school who also had a bad home life. So he imagined what it would be like if he hung out with the cool kids like Ferris and Sloan. Actually, it is the fantasy of Jim McAllister from _Election_, who wishes he’d been a Ferris-like student, hence gis motivation to slickly (in his mind) manipulate the election against uncool overachiever Tracy Flick. > [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > The Ark of the Covenant’s power was hidden in Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase. This doesn’t seem likely. Tim Roth’s character, who is clearly not humble, looks directly into the briefcase and doesn’t melt or explode. My personal theory about _Casablanca_, in which the whole plot element of the letters of transit makes little sense and ends up being pointless (as Major Strasser makes it clear that Victor Lazlo is not leaving Casablanca alive regardless of what travel documents he has) is that the entire story is a ruse by the seemingly guileless but actually ruthlessly manipulative Ilsa. Having already made a connection with the resourceful but emotionally infantile Rick, she sets him up in classic long con fashion by suddenly disappearing with only a vague notification, knowing that he would flee Paris to Casablanca or some other likely thoroughfare for refugees and expatriates, and then follows him there with her meal ticket husband in tow, first making him feel resentful but knowing that his essentially good nature and desire to be seen as the rescuer would cause him to fall on his own sword to provide her and Lazlo with the means to get to America. Evidence in support? There was never any chance that Rick (who fought on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War and ran guns to Ethiopia against the Italians) was going to sacrifice Lazlo to the Germans. Ilsa seems absolutely too spacey to be real, and the all-too-coincidental theft of the letters of transit, supposed off-screen death of Ugarte (leaving the letters in Rick’s possession to do with what he will), and the arrival of Lazlo and Ilsa at the Café American are too perfect storm of events to be believed. Colonel Strasser seems suspiciously lacking in entourage of junior staff officers for an OF-5 on a mission to collect an escapee from a German war camp. It also makes little sense for Lazlo to be going to America to help support the Czech resistance when the Ústrední vedení odboje domácího (ÚVOD, essentiality the Czech government in exile and interface with the Czech resistance forces) as well as the Free French forces and most of the coordination with the various European resistance forces were in London, and the United States was not at that time even involved in the war effort. (I suppose it could be argued that he was going to America to drum up support, but for a man who had no apparent connections in the United States this seems more likely he would support the the ÚVOD directly from London.) More likely is that he is going to the United States to a lucrative think-tank position and post-war lecture circuit, keeping Ilsa in the style in which she wishes to become accustomed (and that she would never get with a roustabout like Rick). Rick, of course, is so beguiled by Ilsa that he doesn’t notice just how absurd this plot is or the bait-and-switch that being played at him, to the point that at the (perfect) tip-off, he doesn’t even notice that the airplane behind him is a cardboard mockup being serviced by midgets. Captain Renault, for his part, may be a co-conspirator, but I suspect that the participants observed his transparent homosexual longings for Rick and appealed to his essentially straightforward nature, being an “honest” cop (“one who stays bought”), he is easily motivated and predicted. In the end, Rick gives away everything he owns and is become a fugitive wanted for murder (faked; Ilsa replaced the rounds in the magazine of his pistol with blanks during her post-coital trip to the bathroom), while Ilsa has free passage to America and is on her way to riding the gravy train for life. Ilsa is a nasty piece of work, that most deadly of _femme fatales_, one that never reveals herself. She could give Kathy Moffet or Phyllis Detriechson a run for their money without breaking a sweat. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/47 "2011-06-17T19:10:45Z")
Daniel Plainview from “There Will be Blood” is the bastard son of Al Swearingen from “Deadwood.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/48 "2011-06-17T19:24:16Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I don’t buy this at all, I think this was just the filmmakers winking at the camera and saying “Oh aren’t we clever.” > > There is a line in the movie about how much information Sean Connery’s character has, including a line about the aliens in Roswell. If the thought that Connery is really James Bond, then you would have to believe that aliens populate the James Bond “universe” and that is just too much for my fragile little mind to handle. Not necessarily. _The aliens at Roswell_ could be shorthand for _the items hidden at Roswell, which many people believe are aliens, a notion the government subtly encourages in order to protect the truth_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/49 "2011-06-17T19:26:20Z")
Pepper Mill outlined her theory about **The Wizard of Oz** in Teemings #7: [http://teemings.net/series\_1/issue07/glinda.html](http://teemings.net/series_1/issue07/glinda.html) Gilnda is the one responsible for all the action in The Wizard of Oz, not telling Dorothy that she had the power to go home all the time, in the hope that she’ll get rid of the Wicjed Witch of the West, just as she offed her sister. Basically, she pulls a Gandalf, straight out of The Hobbit, all the while appearing to be the guile-less sweetness-and-light goody-goody. That high-pitched voice ought to be the giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/50 "2011-06-17T19:33:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Pepper Mill outlined her theory about **The Wizard of Oz** in Teemings #7: > [http://teemings.net/series\_1/issue07/glinda.html](http://teemings.net/series_1/issue07/glinda.html) > > Gilnda is the one responsible for all the action in The Wizard of Oz, not telling Dorothy that she had the power to go home all the time, in the hope that she’ll get rid of the Wicjed Witch of the West, just as she offed her sister. Basically, she pulls a Gandalf, straight out of The Hobbit, all the while appearing to be the guile-less sweetness-and-light goody-goody. That high-pitched voice ought to be the giveaway. With all due respect, amigo, [Captain Amazing’s psychological analysis of the Wizard of Oz strikes me as being the real deal.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501393&highlight=wizard) There was no hell left it in when he was done. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/51 "2011-06-17T19:47:56Z")
Quoth **Quimby** : > [@](#): > > 1. I believe R2-D2 always knew more than he was letting on throughout the Star Wars movies. It was not necessarily by Lucas’ design but you can definitely make the case. There’s a nod to this at the end of Episode 3. When Senator Organa inherits the droids, he orders a wipe for Threepio, but not for Artoo. He knew that Artoo could be discreet about things, and so didn’t need it like that blabbermouth Threepio. Quoth **Alka Seltzer** : > [@](#): > > Pan’s Labyrinth - The fantasy world is the girl’s escape from harsh reality, and she has one final happy vision before dying. It’s a victory of sorts, especially as her actions mean her half brother won’t be raised by her step father. We’re pretty clearly intended to at least consider this possibility, though it does raise the question of how she escaped from her room, without magic chalk. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/52 "2011-06-17T19:53:14Z")
The events of _The Sixth Sense_ scarred Haley Joel Osment’s character to such an extent that when he grew up he moved to New York and changed his name to Dr. Peter Venkman. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/53 "2011-06-17T19:55:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Quimby** :There’s a nod to this at the end of Episode 3. When Senator Organa inherits the droids, he orders a wipe for Threepio, but not for Artoo. He knew that Artoo could be discreet about things, and so didn’t need it like that blabbermouth Threepio. > > Quoth **Alka Seltzer** :We’re pretty clearly intended to at least consider this possibility, though it does raise the question of how she escaped from her room, without magic chalk. Plus I remember reading the director even confirmed the fantasy world was real…my only complaint about that movie. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/54 "2011-06-17T19:56:56Z")
\*Signs \*is not an invasion, but the filming of an alien reality-TV show. The aliens have deliberately taken condemned prisoners and dropped then naked on a planet that is (to them) made of acid, filming their slow agonizing deaths for the entertainment of those back on the alien homeworld. The mysterious symbols carved in the wheat fields are actually the advertising logos of the alien corporations sponsoring the show. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/55 "2011-06-17T20:03:22Z")
After the events of _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_, Roger and Jessica were so relieved and overjoyed that they named their human-looking son after detective Eddie Valiant. He passed for human and became a successful singer/songwriter. He added an extra “t” to his last name, to further distinguish himself from his parents. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/56 "2011-06-17T20:15:02Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t like at all the idea that James Bond is a code name. It would ruin the series for me if it’s not the same character in every movie. Also Roger Moore goes to George Lazenby’s wife’s grave. Well, sure - she was a fine piece of tail. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/57 "2011-06-17T20:17:39Z")
I’m sure others have suggested this but I’m convinced the entirety of the story in \*Total Recall \*was a false memory from the Rekall chip the tech holds up and says, ”Wow that’s a new one, blue sky on Mars”. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/58 "2011-06-17T20:20:18Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Plus I remember reading the director even confirmed the fantasy world was real… Really? That’s too bad. I pretty much entirely took the “fantasy elements are a young child’s means of explaining and coping with the insane world around her” tack with that one. Great movie either way, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/59 "2011-06-17T20:26:54Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Well, sure - she was a fine piece of tail. It \*can’t \*be the same character in every movie. _Casino Royale_ is explicit in noting that the Daniel Craig Bond is but recently a 007. And clearly he cannot be either the same man as his predecessors; nor can Brosnan. I have no issue with Moore & Lazenby having been playing the same character, however. But that doesn’t require that there be no continuty at all. I’d say there have been 4 Bonds played by 6 actors. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/60 "2011-06-17T20:29:14Z")
At the end of **Prince Caspian** , the Telmarines are returned through a magic portal to an island in our world, a world where time goes at a different speed than in the world they are being sent from. Island in our world… teleportation… time moving at different speeds… it’s the island from **Lost**! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=4)